Movies That Were Ruined By Deleting Pivotal Scenes

Nowadays, it seems like every blockbuster movie is intended to launch some form of series, franchise, or shared universe—especially in the fantasy genre. After the astounding critical and commercial success of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the early 2000s, New Line Cinema tried to recapture that glory with another fantasy trilogy: Philip Pullman's Her Dark Materials.

The studio hired screenwriter Chris Weitz to helm an adaptation of the first novel in the trilogy, The Golden Compass, starring Daniel Craig, Christopher Lee, Nicole Kidman, and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards. But as with most blockbusters, the film went through several controversies and production hurdles.

Fans of the trilogy found fault with Weitz, who had chosen to exclude the novel's anti-dogmatic themes by addressing them euphemistically. The film lost the novel's essence along the way, and was widely ridiculed for softening a major component of the story in order to cater to a wider audience. Furthermore, in order to accommodate a shorter runtime, Weitz had to cut out an estimated hour from his original screenplay (mostly scenes featuring the protagonist, Lyra). Unsurprisingly, this would-be trilogy was halted after a single chapter.

There's no denying that the DC Extended Universe has been successful at the box office. However, there's also no getting around the critical brickbats that have greeted these movies, starting with Zack Snyder's contentious Man of Steel and continuing with its follow-up, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the latter of which truly launched the aforementioned shared universe.

Audiences and critics criticized Batman v Superman primarily for its haphazard editing and resulting confused plot, neither of which were the byproduct of runtime constraints. Even at 151 minutes in length, many people felt several plotlines and character arcs were underdeveloped. And knowing that the film's editor, David Brenner, had confirmed that the original cut was almost four hours long, some felt the studio was cheating them out of a completed version.

Shortly after Batman v Superman's release, the studio confirmed they would be releasing an R-rated Ultimate Edition, which added an additional 30 minutes of unseen footage. Those who disliked the theatrical cut for its story or tone likely wouldn't change their minds after viewing the Ultimate Edition. However, critics have said the extended version is a drastic improvement, expanding upon Lex Luthor's role and Clark Kent's investigation.

In 1998, Mark Christopher's critically panned 54, a drama about the world-famous New York City nightclub of the same name, barely managed to make a dent in Hollywood. Starring Ryan Phillippe, Neve Campbell, Salma Hayek, Mark Ruffalo, and Mike Meyers, the film meant to encapsulate the club's legendary hedonism; unfortunately, Christopher's vision never made it to the big screen.

Problems started when Miramax screened the film for random audiences and received negative criticism. In doubt, they cut 40 minutes out of the film and ordered an additional 30 minutes of reshoots. The result was unrecognizable: Phillippe once said, "I've never seen this kind of editing and reshooting on another film I've done. The characters were fundamentally changed in a way that wasn't true to the original script. Not even close." Christopher partially blames the test screenings for Miramax's choice to recut and reshoot the film, saying, "They didn't test it in the cities (where the audience for a dark, edgy indie movie would be); they tested it out in malls in Long Island and places like that."

Thankfully, in 2015, after years of bootleg versions of the film playing at various festivals, Christopher's original cut of the film was released to acclaim in 2015.

Ben Affleck is a huge star and an award-winning director, but he's made his share of wrong moves—including starring in director Mark Steven Johnson's Daredevil, which curtailed his chances at headlining another superhero film for over a decade.

Daredevil received mixed-to-negative reviews during its theatrical run, but was still moderately successful, becoming the second highest-grossing February release at the time. Shortly after the movie's theatrical run, Johnson put together a director's cut, which saw release the following year. It included additional footage previously unseen, as well as an entire subplot starring rapper Coolio as a drug addict. The director's cut went unnoticed by most people, though some who saw it agreed that it turned what once was a mess into a compelling story.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who served as producer on the film, has gone on record saying, "I think...the people who had other opinions will be won over by this new version." Perhaps if Johnson's cut of the film released in theaters instead, moviegoers might have had a different opinion of Affleck when Warner Bros. cast him as the new Batman.

The '90s was a decade overshadowed by apocalyptic films like Armageddon, Independence Day, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, but not every entry in the genre achieved critical acclaim and/or box office glory. Kevin Reynolds' post-apocalyptic film Waterworld, famously starring Kevin Costner as the Mariner, didn't quite grab that brass ring.

Heavily inspired by George Miller's Mad Max franchise, screenwriter David Twohy described Waterworld as being "The Road Warrior on water," supported by the fact that both movies share the same cinematographer: Dean Semler. But unlike that low-budget classic, Waterworld was riddled with costly production woes and went down as the most expensive film ever made at the time, racking up an estimated $235 million with marketing costs included. When production finally concluded, Waterworld's runtime was reportedly almost three hours long, but the theatrical cut clocked in at just over two—and the results weren't particularly inspiring for critics or audiences.

Reynolds later restored his original cut for Waterworld's broadcast premiere on ABC. The extended version, which adds an estimated 45 minutes of footage, isn't a masterpiece, though it's still better than the theatrical cut.

Following the success of his directorial debut, Zombieland, and his follow-up comedy 30 Minutes or Less, Ruben Fleischer opted to make a more ambitious film, one that would be rooted in history. Gangster Squad—based on the Paul Lieberman novel Tales from the Gangster Squad—follows a newly-formed unit within the Los Angeles Police Department, that wages a secret war against Mickey Cohen and his gang.

Featuring an all-star cast that included Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, and Emma Stone, Fleischer's period crime drama looked like a surefire hit for the studio, but two months prior to the scheduled release date, a shooting occurred inside Dark Knight Rises screening at a theater in Aurora, CO. Warner Bros. had been running trailers and TV spots for Gangster Squad that featured glimpses of the film's primary action sequence—a bloody shootout inside the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Deemed insensitive, the studio pulled the trailers, delayed the film, and ordered a series of reshoots to replace the movie theater sequence with one set in Chinatown. Whether leaving the movie as is might have improved its eventual fate we'll never know, but the new footage certainly didn't help.